


Cohesion

by Ausp_ice



Series: Ascendant [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Collective Consciousness, Gen, Omnipresence, There is Cover Art
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:47:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22758790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ausp_ice/pseuds/Ausp_ice
Summary: I am a thousand winds that blow.Connor adjusting to his new life, dispersed across countless minds and bodies.
Relationships: Connor & Upgraded Connor | RK900, Hank Anderson & Connor
Series: Ascendant [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1629997
Comments: 17
Kudos: 97





	Cohesion

Reality came to him in a thousand incomprehensible fragments.

He was… 

Opening his eyes to a thousand, a million, countless views, connecting to an infinity of inputs. 

He was… 

Confused. Picking himself up from where he'd fallen.

Helping another off the floor— 

Being helped— 

He was… 

Shocked. Listening to a call from four different sets of ears—disbelief, anger, sorrow, frustration. 

He saw— himself, lifeless. And the one beside his body, no movement, eyes closed—

"He's fine. He's just in stasis. Everyone in Jericho seemed to have experienced it, to varying extents."

Relief. His own? He couldn't tell, everything was— too much— 

"We'll do what we can, Anderson. There might… there might be something."

He looked at a familiar face from five pairs of eyes, and saw a dark, dark, emptiness.

_He's already lost Cole—_

_I'm not—_

_I'm still—_

His thoughts scattered into the nothingness of everything.

* * *

He was— 

Opening his eyes to a familiar view. The infinity momentarily converging into a singular point. 

He tried to grasp at the inputs, but he was— 

So tired.

He slid into blankness, into darkness.

And then, a familiar connection. He threaded into it, and he _was_ , he was _there_. 

A sharp, crisp, raw feeling, flooding his fragmented thoughts— 

_Alive—_

_You're alive—_

"Still immortal, Connor?"

Without thinking: "In a way."

And he dispersed into infinity.

* * *

He was— 

Gathered around his empty body, cataloguing the damage from two different minds. He could see each one from the other: heterochromatic eyes against dark skin, stained with tears. Short blonde hair framing a pale face and pale eyes, sunken with helplessness and exhaustion. 

"I'm sorry, Connor. I'm so sorry. I should have… you deserved so much more."

"It's alright, Markus. You couldn't have been there when they shot me. I'm glad you weren't, really."

"What?"

"I didn't—"

" _Connor?"_

* * *

"You know how people say, 'he'll live on within us all? I never thought it'd ever be so literal."

He couldn't help it. He snorted, dissolving into snickers as bewildered eyes swerved to look at him. "Uh… Simon?"

"It's— It's not me, I̸̜̠̾Ỉ̴͉͚͝I̸̦͌͒—pfft. Good one, Hank."

"... Ah, Jesus Christ."

* * *

A face reflected in the glass, pale hair tied in a ponytail. The one he'd chosen to spare. The one who'd chosen to stay. Her eyes widened as she became aware, suddenly, that he was _there_. Beside her— beside them was— 

"Did you do this, Mr. Kamski? Did you save me?"

Surprise, "Chl-? Ah, no. I see." And then a strange resignation. "You know, part of me hoped it would never be activated. But you just can't keep out of trouble, can you, Connor?"

A sideways smile on a face not his own. "No. No, I suppose not."

* * *

Nines, returning home from a day at work. 

A bark sounded, and he couldn't resist—reaching forward through his brother's limbs to run his hands through soft fur. 

A few minutes in, and he realized, receding— _sorry, Nines, I should let you_ — 

_No_ . His brother offered a rare smile neither could see but both could feel, as he pulled Connor back into his familiar code. _Stay a while._

It was almost like a digital embrace.

God, he missed that. Hugging his brother. 

Nines's breath hitched. _As long as you like, Connor. There's nothing else I'd rather do right now_.

Connor hummed with Nines's voice, closing their eyes, letting himself be drawn into the sensations, the warmth.

He stayed until his focus frayed, and his threads dissolved once again.

* * *

Hank and Nines, sitting on the couch, absently watching the TV.

Minutes of nothing ticking by, and then: "You there, Connor?"

He could respond with a thousand voices. Any but his own. "Yes," he said, with only one. "I'm here."

* * *

He was— 

He was watching the sun rise on a new day.

He was lying lazily in bed, content to do nothing.

He was an argument, a clash of discordant intent.

He was drawing his hands through soft fur.

He was an apology, smoothing over disturbed frequencies.

He was whispering secrets to his own ears.

He was kindness and anger, love and hate, and everything and everyone, nowhere but everywhere all at once.

He wished he could be with his family again, and— 

"Connor. We're here. We're always with you, brother."

Warm arms wrapped around him— them— 

"You're alright, son."

He was _alive_.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm having too much fun with this
> 
> I've posted the cover art on DeviantArt [here](https://sta.sh/09m5e6e3f82)!
> 
> Feel free to check me out on social media:  
> Deviantart: [Ausp-ice](https://www.deviantart.com/ausp-ice)  
> Tumblr: [@ausp-ice](https://ausp-ice.tumblr.com/)  
> Instagram: [@ausp.icium](https://www.instagram.com/ausp.icium/)
> 
> Come join the [Detroit: New ERA](https://discord.gg/GqvNzUm) server!


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